This week in baseball blogs:
- Call To The Pen observes that the Diamondbacks might have to consider making monumental trades soon.
- The Point of Pittsburgh is frustrated with Pirates general manager Neal Huntington’s refusal to pay the necessary price to acquire White Sox left-hander Jose Quintana.
- BP Toronto checks in on how well members of the Blue Jays barreled the ball in 2016.
- Other League suggests a breakout season could be in the offing for Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius.
- Inside the ‘Zona analyzes the four-seam fastballs of Diamondbacks righties Taijuan Walker and Archie Bradley.
- The Redbird Daily revisits Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty‘s 2016, which saw his numbers fall off dramatically in late May.
- Pirates Breakdown previews right-hander Jameson Taillon‘s 2017.
- The First Out At Third examines which Brewers are regression candidates.
- Pinstriped Prospects chats with Yankees righty prospect Domingo Acevedo.
- Jays Journal ranks Toronto’s five most interesting players for this year.
- Sports Talk Philly lists five players the Phillies could trade during the season.
- Camden Depot wonders if Orioles righty Dylan Bundy is ready to handle a full season’s workload as a starter.
- NYRDCAST searches for replacements for injured Cardinals righty Alex Reyes.
- Notes from the Sally previews the 2017 Hickory Crawdads, the Rangers’ South Atlantic League affiliate.
- The Runner Sports analyzes which Yankees need to step up in order for the club to compete for a playoff spot.
- Extra Innings: Baseball Around the World interviews former major league infielder/outfielder Mark Teahen about his decision to come out of retirement to play in Italy.
- Clutchlings focuses on prospect-related spring storylines for the Blue Jays.
- Motor City Bengals projects the Tigers’ opening day lineup.
- The Runner Sports (links: 1, 2, 3) analyzes which Yankees need to step up in order for the club to compete for a playoff spot; gives a rundown of the new spring training facility that the Astros and Nationals share; and looks into whether Yankees righty Adam Warren will start this year.
- Mets Daddy opines that the team should use righty Zack Wheeler out of the bullpen.
- Underthought compares Orioles third baseman Manny Machado and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper.
- Real McCoy Minor News ventures to Giants FanFest.
- District On Deck names five key spring training storylines for the Nationals.
- Think Blue Planning Committee projects the starting rotation for the Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate.
- Two Strike Approach: A Baseball Podcast discusses the Yankees and Red Sox.
- The K Zone looks back at Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy‘s breakout 2016.
- MLB451 likens presidents to former major league players and personalities.
- Jays From the Couch argues that left fielder Ezequiel Carrera should not be a platoon option for Toronto.
- Rotisserie Duck names the best defensive players of the 2016 season.
- Call To The Pen (links: 1, 2, 3) breaks down contract-year players who could end up on the block; reviews the NL Central; and details MLB’s non-negotiable ritual.
- Outside Pitch MLB asks if Alex Rodriguez could be the next manager of the Yankees.
The defense article says that Adam Eaton is the best defensive right fielder in the AL lol
And now that I reread the opening I see it was for 2016.
ARod a manager? Never gonna happen.
Never say never. Great baseball mind. I could easily see it happening.
“Here’s a recap from our December article regarding the Pirates interest in Jose Quintana about his characteristics:
He’s a high-end #2/low-end #1 pitcher
He’s left handed
He’s 28, in the prime of his career
He’s controllable for four years
He’s making just $7M this year
That whole article was a blueprint for Huntington to follow.”
Poor Kevin Creagh, he knows so much better, but stupid old Neil Huntingdon won’t read his blog and operate his Major League Baseball team based on Kevin’s OBVIOUS genius.
Clearly the right move for the Pirates is to empty their farm system to acquire a #2 pitcher who will take them from marginal contender status to….marginal contender status. GENIUS!
I assume that everyone who thinks the Pirates should make that trade think (to this day) that the A’s trade of Russell was great and the Shelby Miller deal was smart because, hey, they are just prospects and he’s a proven starter, right?
Personally, the only teams I see Quintana being the key to a championship for are the ones who already are that close to winning (Cubs, Red Sox, and Indians). You are mostly correct about the Pirates, but also don’t forget the difference that would be had from a fully healthy Cole and McCutchen. This is a team that won 98 games just before last year. Still, unless the White Sox value McCutchen enough to minimize the amount of prospects it would take, there are too many question marks to take a leap like that for Quintana.
Oh boy that was a terrible article.
As a Rays fan, I get the idea behind his article. It’s hard to keep putting out successful teams and going for it isn’t a bad idea. If McCutchen doesn’t bounce back and you lose Cole in a couple of years you may already have seen the best of the Pirates.
Maybe, but as it stands now the team figures to be much better in a few years when they still have Marte and Polanco and Taillon but have a more seasoned Bell plus Newman, Meadows, Glasnow, Keller and what they get for Cutch and Cole.
Those guys panning out might make the Pirates legit contenders. Adding Quintana does not.
The same people who want the Pirates to trade for Quintana wanted to trade Marte to rent Hunter Pence and trade Polanco for another rental whose name I can’t even remember.
Man, who ever knew that Mark Teahen was such an awesome dude? Total respect for that guy, although I can barely remember his playing career except I think he was part of the first Carlos Beltran trade.